Dear Outres,
The debate between 'Nature' and 'Culture' is a fascinating one that encapsulates many issues in our modern occidental societies that tend like all civilisations to extract (wo)man from its natural background to create a new (Wo)Man outside the day-to-day struggle for existence and the night-to-night struggle with fear. In turn, (s)he has felt the need to develop these qualities of thought and feeling so that they might approach as nearly as possible to an ideal of perfection - reason, justice, physical beauty, all of them in equilibrium.
But this ideal however complex and solid it seems, is actually quite fragile. It can be destroyed (see Greece today). The Arab spring is one of many examples to have spread in various areas of the world with many more to come, here, at home!
According to Kenneth Clark, "Civilisation requires a modicum of material prosperity (which we have lost in Europe!) and confidence in the society in which one lives (political correctness is wrongly required in all domains of our public life these days), belief in its philosophy (free capitalism for all. Does it really work?), belief in its laws (some are definitively more equals than others...), and confidence in one's own mental powers".
And it is about this very last point that outdoor education/learning outside the classroom is probably the most effective tool to regenerate new generations of risk takers, adventurers, explorers in our ever older societies, gangrened by the compensation culture and the lack of physical activities.
The other issue of re-connecting with both Nature and our inner-Truth is also to be debated in the context of OED as this important part of the educational mix should have equal priority with the access to Technology. It is amazing to motice in the classroom that pupils tend to loose their concentration very quickly if there is no visual support to the lesson via Interactive White Boards. As if teaching survival techniques on a more traditional black board with a piece of chalk from the ground, in the middle of the woods, is down to prehistorical times...
A Bientot,
Patrick Papougnot
Deputy Head
Kent
-----Original Message-----
From: W Krouwel <
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To: OUTRES <
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Sent: Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:45
Subject: Re: Rethinking Risk and Adventure
This 'adventure' thing has been bugging me a for a little while. If, as some are saying, the future of outdoor learning/education lies in the area of sustainability rather than in the areas of human development or adventure, perhaps we need to redefine what we mean by 'risk' - I am thinking that the risk of global disaster is perhaps a bit more significantly risky than the taking of personal risk within adventure.
Perhaps the answer lies in the soil. I am happiest when I see personal, group and community development taking place in things like greenwood work, shelter-building or green gym. None of these are notable for involving adrenalin-generating risk in the traditional way, but do seem to have positive results in the areas mentioned - together with building a sense of affinity with the land which may lead to an urge to nurture it.
I'm also aware that my traditional work in outdoor management development was dogged in the early days by people who thought that the fear engendered by apparently risky, 'adventurous' abseiling sessions were in some way a metaphor for fear of the boss - the underlying message being, I guess, that if you can conquer your fear of proceeding backwards down a cliff, you should be able to conquer your fear of the boss... which is, I think, yet to be proven.
Risk and adventure might not necessarily be the only good reasons for going outdoors ... it is possible to achieve good human results from the human:nature interface, perhaps especially if humans are able to busily interact with - and help- nature, rather than just use it or passively watch it ...
Regards
Bill Krouwel
